From £7.99 to £1,600 in 35 yearsIt seems that a man named Adam Fergusson, who was an adviser to the then UK Tory minister Lord Howe, wrote a book in 1975 called “When money dies”. It is about how the German economy was ruined by hyperinflation after the Weimar government allowed public spending to run out of control. Copies of the book are reported to be changing hands at up to £1,600. Why? The answer supposedly is our friend the Sage of Omaha i.e. Warren Buffett. He is said to have told friends that this is precisely what could happen again if European governments attempt to spend their way out of the current recession.
Obviously the 1920’s German experience will not recur since:-
• Their present Chancellor has held firm
• Gordon Brown and his cronies have gone
• The new UK Coalition is putting the engine into reverse.
Still, at £1,600 a pop, somebody thinks there are lessons still to be learned. I wonder if my Credit Crunch Diary (October 08 – October 09) will fetch £1,600 a copy in 2045.
JGS 14 July 2010
